1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a computer system and a power control apparatus thereof, and more particularly, to a computer system and a power control apparatus thereof with overheat protection mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a localized diagram of a conventional computer system. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional computer system 100 includes a temperature sensor 110, an embedded controller 120, two resistors R11 and R12, a capacitor C1 and a diode Z1. In a normal situation of the computer system 100, the temperature sensor 110 does not produce a sensing signal STH1 with a low logic-level, and a voltage V1 taking a conductive path between the resistor R12 and the capacitor C1 enables the embedded controller 120 normally working.
On the contrary, when the CPU or an operation component in the conventional computer system 100 gets overheat, the temperature sensor 110 produces a sensing signal STH1 with a low logic-level, and the embedded controller 120 quits to normally work, which further shuts down the computer system 100 to prevent the computer from running in the overheat status. Meanwhile, the embedded controller 120 would receive a reset signal SRE1 through the diode Z1. When the reset signal SRE1 is switched into the low logic-level, the embedded controller 120 fails normally working and shuts down the computer as well. The capacitor C1 serves as a path for discharging or charging to assist the above-mentioned operation mechanism.
It should be noted that the above-mentioned prior art features by using the sensing signal STH1 produced by the temperature sensor 110 so as to enable or disable the embedded controller 120 to achieve the overheat protection mechanism. However, the above-mentioned scheme has two disadvantages. First, after the conventional computer system 100 is shut down due to the low logic-level of the sensing signal STH1, a user may want to restart the computer by pressing the starting key of the computer system. At the time, if the sensed temperature still keeps over 85° C., the temperature sensor 110 would continue producing the sensing signal STH1 with the low logic-level, which forces the computer system 100 to be shut down again.
Next, after the conventional computer system 100 is shut down due to the low logic-level of the sensing signal STH1, before the voltage V1 received by the embedded controller 120 is completely discharged, the embedded controller 120 keeps normally working; i.e., the temperature sensor 110 controlled by the embedded controller 120 keeps normally working. At the time, if a user presses the starting key of the computer system, the conventional computer system 100 would be compellably shut down since the temperature sensor 110 is working normally to directly output the sensing signal STH1 with the low logic-level.
In short, the above-mentioned two situations result in forcing the computer system continuously shut down after the computer is started, which gives the user a wrong message that the computer gets fault or encourages the user to start the computer again and again leading a shorter lifetime.